Chinese officials are optimistic about winning a geopolitical competition with the United States due to the perceived “decline of the West,” according to the boasts of a top Chinese Communist security chief.

“The rise of the East and the decline of the West has become [a global] trend, and changes of the international landscape are in our favor,” Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission chief Chen Yixin told colleagues, per a South China Morning Post translation. “The U.S. suppression [of us] is a major threat, but [our struggle with the US] is both a skirmish and a protracted war.”